[El Gato]

Election CAMPAIGNS are part of an election.

Not directly they are not. They are a continution of political discourse (speech) prior to an election.

The parties and the government are too intertwinned in the election process as it is, IMHO. I would pass an amendment that would prevent any official governmental recognition of political parties. That is, they would not control primaries, although they could hold their own, and agree to only put one cannidate forward for the "real"/governmental primary. They would not get special previliges in Congress, due to belonging to this or that party. There would be no "majority leader" or "minority leader". After all the Constitution does not mention, nor even anticipate any such recognition.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Election campaigns are certainly part of an election. There is no such thing as a campaign WITHOUT an election.

The rest of your statement I agree with. There should be NO official recognition of parties by the government.